A woman who one admirer called “an earth angel” will be in Moab on Saturday, June 8, to discuss her work during an event called “Flock Together,” a fundraiser to benefit Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation of Price.

Debbie Pappas opened the nonprofit rehabilitation center in 1994 and successfully treats more than 200 injured birds and small mammals each year, often working around the clock seven days a week.

“This is my calling,” the former medical technologist told The Times-Independent. “This is what I should have been doing all along.”

“Flock Together” will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Scott M. Matheson Wetlands Preserve on Kane Creek Boulevard. It will include booths about wildlife rehabilitation, wildlife photography by Keith Cauley, and bat education by Tom Haraden, in addition to an owl-calling contest.

A silent auction for Second Chance will be from 6 to 9 p.m. the same day at Eddie McStiff’s, 57 S. Main St. Works of art by local artists and others throughout the state will be available, as well as other items.

Sara Melnicoff of Moab Solutions said Pappas’ work is especially important because many people are disconnected from the natural environment these days.

“What she’s doing is invaluable,” Melnicoff said. “We need people like her who I call earth angels, who are doing the things people want to see done but don’t have the training or heart for.”

Pappas acknowledges her rehabilitation work isn’t a lucrative profession. She gets by on a shoestring budget and the real payoff comes when she releases a raptor or other species back into the wild.

That happened May 9 in Moab when Pappas and volunteer assistants Jeanine Montague of Moab and La Sal resident Linda Webb released a raven from a spot near KZMU Radio. The bird had been injured a month earlier and was discovered by Montague, who gave it to Pappas for treatment.

For more information about Saturday’s fundraiser, call Pappas at 435-650-3441 or Melnicoff at 435-259-0910.

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